Car-coupling



(No Model.)

I. N. HOYT. UAR COUPLING.

Patented July 17, 1883.

WITNB$SES: aldfi9mzi @M ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC N. HOYT, OF AUGUSTA, VISCONSIN.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 281,271, dated July 17,1883.

Application filed March '20, 1883. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC N. HoY'r, a citizen of the United States,residing in Augusta, in the county of Eau Claire and State of \Viscousin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oar-Couplings, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the mechanism for couplingrailway-cars, and relates to a class in which the cars are attached toone another by means of a link and pins; and the objects of myimprovements are to construct a draw-bar or bufferin such a manner andwith such a combination of parts as to hold the link and pin in suchposition when the cars areuncoupled that they'will couple themselveswhen brought together, and to permit of such another arrangement ofparts as to prevent coupling if it is desired to push the cars, and yetleave them in position to couple the next time they are broughttogether. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical section on aline 1 and 2 of Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 2 is an end view; Fig. 3, a sideview of one buffer and vertical sectional view of the other in the actof coupling. Fig. 4 is a top view; Fig. 5, a vertical section in the actof holding the pin, the section being on line 1 and 2, Figs. 2 and 4.

Similar letters refer to similar'parts through out the several views.

The bar by which the freight-cars are drawn, which will be calledhereinafter a buffer, is in present practice provided with a recess inthe outer end,which receives, one end of a link. A hole is madevertically, through which a pin passes, as also through the interior ofthe link. The cars are attached by the link and the two pins. The carswhen so attached have slack, to permit them to be started one at a time,and permits each car tosway sidewise. To permit the necessary slack andsway, the link must be loose around the pin and fitloosely in the recessin the buffer. When the cars are to be coupled, it is necessary todirect the link to its position in the recess of the buffer, and whenthey meet to drop the pin through. To permit the slack: and sway, andyet couple automatically, I construct the buffer with a recess for thelink and hole for the pinas at present constructed, but opening into therecess from the rear I make a hole vertically through the buffer, thefront and rear ends of which slant upward and backward. The sides of thehole run longitudinally with the buffer, and are a less distance apartthan the width of the link. In this hole I place a weight, B, free toslide up and down in it, and, guided by the slanting ends, recedes as itrises and advances as it falls. It is provided with a jaw at a, which,with the lower surface of the recess in thebuffer, grasps the link Cimmediately behind the pin a, Fig. 1. The weight B has a slanting side,I), Fig. 3, wl1ich,when the link 0 and pin D are both removed and theweight is resting on the bottom of the recess in the buffer, shutspartly over the upper hole for the pin and prevents the pin D, Fig. 3,from falling through. To the upper side of the weight B, I attach a rod,0, having the same slant as the rear end of the weight, and forming apart of the weight. Over the hole in the buffer I place a cap,sufficiently concave on its lower surface to permit the weight to riseuntil the lower edge of the jaw a, Fig. 1, is as high as the uppersurface of the recess in the buffer, but having a hole through which therod 0 may slide. To the pin D, Fig. 5, I hinge a dog, F, Fig. 5, nearits upper end, of sufiicient length to reach to the rod c'of weightB,when the pin rests in the upper hole in the buffer, as in Fig. 5.

It operates as follows: When it is desired to couple two cars, the linkis placed in the recess in the buffer of one, Figs. 1 and 3. The link isheld horizontal by the jaw aof the weight B, resting on the end of thelink back of the pin, as in Fig. 1. The other car-buffer is left withthe weight B down, and the pin D in the upper part of the hole retainedthere by the face I) of the weight B, as in Fig. 3. When the cars meet,the link 0, Fig. 3, enters the recess in the buffer and pushes theweight B, Fig. 3, backward and upward, releasing the pin D, which fallsthrough the link.

Sometimes it is desired to push a car to some point and leave it, andalso to leave it in position to couple on again. I accomplish this bythe dog F, Fig. 5, attached to the pin D, Fig. 5, and the rod 0 of theweight B. The pin D on the car to be pushed is raised out of the linkand the foot of the dog placed against the rod 0, Fig. 5. The weight Bmay then be raised and lowered above the link without disengaging thepin; but if the link be'reinoved, the weight B, Fig. 5, falls to thebottom of the re cess in the buffer, carrying the rod cbelow the top ofthe plate E, disengaging the dog F, but retaining the pin by the face I)in position to couple. The cap E serves as a guide for the rod 0 andalso to protect the weight from the weather.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the buffer, of the weight B, having a rod, 0,the cap E, and the scribed.

ISAAO N. HOYT.

WVitnesses J. B. BUTTON, WM. SoHRoEDER.

